


Just Come Back To Me

by crystallized-iron (Somiko_Raven)



Series: The Pain of Love [3]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: M/M, Post-X-Men: Days of Future Past, Pre-X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Prompt Fill, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23286472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somiko_Raven/pseuds/crystallized-iron
Summary: Erik comes back again, but learns that Charles no longer remembers him, nor their history.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Series: The Pain of Love [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1648009
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	Just Come Back To Me

**Author's Note:**

> Writing prompt: strawberries from [iammisscullen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iammisscullen)

Charles sighed, pushing his hair out of his eyes. There was that name again. Erik. A letter in his own writing that never got sent. Erik.

He never mentioned to Hank that he could not remember who this man was, but according to him, Charles had spent the evening with Erik the night before his memories were blanketed with a thick fog he couldn’t clear.

Erik had taken him somewhere. Where that was, even Hank didn’t know. Charles could guess from the marks on his skin (bites, hickies) what must have happened that night, but he had no memory of any of it.

There was a light tap on his office door. “Come in, Hank.”

The door opened and Hank, appearing anxious, peered inside. “He’s here.”

“And who is he?” Charles asked as he slipped the letter into a folder. He could not sense anyone on the property that was not supposed to be there.

“It’s Erik.”

That made Charles pause and look at him. “And what does Erik want?”

A man wearing a ridiculous-looking helmet atop his head pushed past Hank. “To see you, of course.”

Charles held Erik’s gaze. He could not reach the man’s mind, and the thing on his head must have been the reason. “Remove the helmet, please.”

“Charles -”

“Either remove it or be escorted out,” Charles stated.

From the look on Erik’s face, he knew this was not such a common occurrence between them, but the man raised his hands and lifted the helmet off, giving Charles a better look at his face.

How could he ever forget such a handsome man?

The helmet was placed on the desk. “Now will you talk to me?”

“Yes.” His eyes flicked to the strange helmet, then back to Erik’s face. “Hank, you may leave.”

“Alright. If you need anything -”

“I will reach you, don’t worry.”

With a quick nod, Hank left the men alone.

Erik eyed Charles, asking him, “What’s wrong?”

“Why do you think something is wrong?” Charles replied.

“You are not acting like yourself.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You are usually more personal than this considering our history.”

Biting his lip, Charles tried to come up with a response, but then said, “Let me be honest with you, alright?”

“That would be a good idea, yes.”

“I don’t know who you are.”

Erik stared at him, confusion surrounding his every thought. “What?”

Charles rested his hands on his lap. “I don’t know who you are. I am sorry, but I really don’t.” Before the silence could grow much longer, he said, “There is… like a fog around various memories of mine. Anything about you is shrouded.”

“You…”

“I’m sorry.”

Erik shook his head. “You tried to erase me.”

Charles blinked. “Oh. That makes sense.”

“Why did you do it, Charles? That night…”

“I don’t know. I am very sorry, but I remember nothing about it.”

“I can’t believe you did this,” Erik muttered.

The anguish rolling off of him made Charles wish he did remember him. “Were we close then?”

Looking at the floor, Erik told him, “We were lovers.”

“Lovers?” Why did he erase memories of a lover? Unless… “Did you cheat on me?”

“No.” Erik sighed, collapsing into a chair. “Damn it, Charles.”

“Well, I am not a fan of the anger.”

“You never were.” Erik’s eyes met his. “I never cheated on you, but… you may have thought I did with Raven.”

Quirking an eyebrow at him, Charles asked, “Why would I think you cheated on me with my sister?”

“Because of how things ended the first time.”

“The first time?” Things were beginning to make sense. “How many times did things end between us, Erik?”

“I don’t know. But the first time… she and I…” Guilt colored his emotions and he glanced away. “We abandoned you and the others on a beach in Cuba.”

“I remember… some of that day.” Charles stared at the desk a minute before giving the helmet itself another look. “That thing was Shaw’s.”

Erik slowly looked at him again. “That’s right.”

“It prevented me from reaching his mind. I was… telling someone to keep doing something. I could almost find him.”

“You were talking to me, Charles.”

Charles turned to him.

“It was like a room of mirrors. Every time I was thrown into one, it would crack. That’s how you got through.”

“And then he was killed.”

“By me, yes, after I removed the helmet -”

“And I froze him.”

Erik nodded. “Yes.”

Leaning forward, Charles informed him, “Something I will never forget is feeling that man’s death.”

“Charles -”

“Straight through the brain. I felt _all_ of it.”

The other man’s eyes widened. “You did?”

“It was like something piercing my skull and tearing my mind apart… _all the way through_.”

“I had no idea,” Erik whispered.

“How would you? The only person with me was Moira. And she doesn’t even remember that.”

“You never said anything.”

Thinking about that day brought another point to his mind. “Why can’t I walk?”

The question caught Erik off-guard. “What?”

“Everything surrounding that moment is very foggy.” Charles leaned back in his chair. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

“Charles, my focus was elsewhere, and that woman started shooting - I deflected a bullet and it hit you.”

“Things keep making more and more sense now, you know.”

“I’m sorry. Charles, I never meant to hurt you like that. It wasn’t supposed to happen. If those men hadn’t tried to attack us after we saved their lives, I…”

“I think I might like you to leave.”

“I was protecting us, Charles!”

“Protecting us? You were about to start World War III right there.”

Erik stood. “So you remember the missiles but not me.”

“That… is true.”

“But now you know it was _me_ that stopped them, that redirected them to save _our_ lives. All of us.”

Charles thought back to that day. There had been someone beside him.

_‘--- you said yourself we are the better men. This is the time to prove it.’_

_The missiles turned toward the ships._

_‘There are thousands of men on those ships. Good honest men. They are just following orders.’_

_‘I’ve been at the mercy of men just following orders.’ A flicker sparked in his memory. A ghostly figure looked back at him. ‘Never again.’_

And the missiles had soared. Things got… confusing after that. Fuzzy. At one point the gun had gone off. And he fell.

“I tried to stop you,” he said.

“Yeah.” Erik nodded. “What stopped me was realizing you were hurt.”

Charles looked at him.

“You have no idea how terrified I was when I saw you fall. I pulled the bullet out as soon as I reached you.”

“And you left. Took Raven.”

“You told her to go.”

Narrowing his eyes, Charles asked, “I did?”

“She wasn’t sure. You were hurt, she was worried. She went to you. You told her to go.”

He tried to find it, but there was so much haze surrounding the memory he could not figure out what he was seeing.

Shaking his head, Charles said, “Alright. After that day, my memories are mostly intact, I think. There are odd moments that don’t make much sense to me, but they must involve you.”

“I’m sure they do,” Erik murmured. “I bet the fog reoccurs in 1973.”

“You came back into my life.”

“You dragged me back into your life,” Erik corrected him. “You and the little speed demon and that… what was it?”

“Logan.” Charles smiled. “Now that was… interesting. But yes, 1973. And after all that, you disappear again, don’t you?”

“Until last month.” Erik sat in the chair again, leaning toward Charles. “You were already angry with me then, but I never expected you to -”

“What happened that night, Erik?” Charles asked.

“It was a Friday night. I suggested a date.”

Charles quirked an eyebrow. “A date? That’s all?”

“Yes.” Erik gave him a sad smile. “And so I flew us to a hill. It was already dark. I reminded you of the nights we would gaze at the stars. Do you still do that?”

Charles looked away. “I would if I could move easier.”

“Excuses. Get Hank to take you since you decided to say no to me. A very extreme way of doing it.”

“What did I say no to?”

“To being with me.” Erik sighed. “I had to leave early the next morning. I couldn’t find paper but I found Hank. I told him to give you a message.”

Charles thought about it. “That morning… I remember Hank opening the door and asking how I was. I think I looked a little dazed. He mentioned a man named Erik had left.”

Erik stared at him. “Was there anything else?”

“Not really, no. What was he supposed to tell me?”

“That I would be coming back once things calmed down.”

“I never heard that part. Doesn’t matter if I had.”

“No. Not if you already tried to erase me.”

“I must have. I had no idea who he was talking about.”

“Well…” Erik looked at the desk top. “Where do we go from here? I…”

Charles let his mind do a little observation of Erik’s surface thoughts, finding sadness, confusion, anxiety, and… “Strawberries?”

Erik’s eyes flicked up at him. “Yeah, I expected something more…”

“Optimistic?”

“Yes.”

Charles folded his arms. “So where are these strawberries then?”

“I may have gone to your bedroom first,” Erik admitted.

With a small smile, Charles said, “Alright. Our past sounds… very rocky. Hectic. But it sounds like you do truly care. Maybe… we can start over?”

“I don’t know. Is it irreversible?”

“I know I can reverse it when I erase the minds of others, but… my own, I’m not as sure. Just being successful enough to manage what I did is incredibly lucky, I think, considering how risky altering the brain can be. A lot can go wrong if I’m not careful.”

“I see.”

“But,” Charles told him, wheeling around his desk, “you are starting to come back. So I don’t think it is permanent. You just needed to come back to me again.”

“But you are remembering me?”

“Sort of. You’re a very faint figure now, but there are still so many memories that are completely fogged over.”

“But if I do stay, then in time you might regain your memories.”

“Possibly. I would like to know you though. Classes are over, so maybe we could talk over a box of strawberries in my room.”

Erik chuckled. “If that is how it has to be for now, fine. Lead the way, friend.”


End file.
